Fox researchers take scientific look at Super Bowl ads
You may think you know which Super Bowl ad you liked most. But through the efforts of Temple researchers and a company called Innerscope Research, the picture has been clarified with the tools of hard science. Innerscope invited the Temple team to put ad-watchers in an MRI machine, measuring brain activity with a type of scan called a functional MRI (fMRI). “We used the fMRI data to open the black box of the brain,” said Angelika Dimoka, director of the Center for Neural Decision Making in Fox School of Business at Temple. High-performing ads included Stephen Colbert's spot for pistachios and a Cheerios commercial in which a girl negotiates for a puppy.
Philadelphia Inquirer | Feb. 21, 2014

Archives at Bethune house is on 'sacred ground,' Temple historian tells Washington Post
The National Park Service says it will go ahead with a controversial plan to relocate a black women’s history archive from the Mary McLeod Bethune house in Washington, D.C., but is taking time to explain the move. The archive holds 100 years of letters, minutes, recordings, documents and other memorabilia regarding the efforts of black women to end discrimination and segregation. “That place is sacred,” said Bettye Collier-Thomas, professor history at Temple and the first executive director of the archive. “We want the public to understand … the full significance of this site, and why we feel it has been seriously neglected by the Park Service,” she said.
Washington Post | Feb. 26, 2014

Temple physicist's hypothesis: Build giant walls to stop tornadoes
Temple physicist Rongjia Tao believes that parts of the U.S. could be protected from tornadoes by building gigantic walls. “If we build three east-west great walls in the American Midwest … one in North Dakota, one along the border between Kansas and Oklahoma to the east, and the third one in south Texas and Louisiana, we will diminish the tornado threats in the Tornado Alley forever,” Tao said. By stopping the flow of air from north and south, the walls would prevent tornadoes from forming. As an example, he cites China, where east-west mountain ranges help reduce tornadoes. Tao presented his research during the annual meeting of the American Physical Society.
USA Today, more | Feb. 26, 2014

Fox scholar to 'WSJ' readers: Be cautious about including SAT score on résumé
Plenty of employers still care about a job candidate's SAT score. Consulting firms, such as Bain & Co. and McKinsey & Co. and banks like Goldman Sachs Group Inc., ask new college recruits for their scores, while other companies even request them for senior sales and management hires. But be cautious about including SAT scores on your résumé, advises In-Sue Oh, professor of human resources and management in the Fox School of Business at Temple. Oh said that what impresses one hiring manager may annoy another, adding that SAT scores on a résumé could make an applicant come across as narcissistic, overqualified or hung up on high-school successes.
Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! News | Feb. 26, 2014

CLA's Levine joins 'Radio Times' to discuss breaking the cycle of poverty
How do you help people move up the income ladder? Temple sociologist Judith Levine, author of Ain't No Trust, joined Temple alumna Marty Moss-Coane in the Radio Times studio to discuss strategies to combat the country’s growing economic inequality. In decades of interviews with low-income mothers about their lives, distrust emerged as a universal theme—distrust of boyfriends, employers, case workers and others. “This distrust is paralyzing,” Levine said. “If you don't trust people, you're not going to do things. It keeps things from happening that policy makers want to happen—going into the labor market, getting jobs, getting married, using childcare.” 
Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane | Feb. 25, 2014

Is childhood obesity declining?
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study might be another signal of a national decline in childhood obesity. The researchers found that obesity among children ages 2 to 5 dropped to 8 percent, down from 14 percent a decade ago. “I think it's fair to say that (this study) is probably the best source of data we have on whether the prevalence of obesity is increasing with time,” said Robert C. Whitaker, professor of both public health and pediatrics in the College of Health Professions and Social Work at Temple. For years, most childhood anti-obesity initiatives were focused on older kids. “Less has been done” to fight obesity in toddlers, Whitaker said in a widely distributed Associated Press story.
Boston Globe, Salon, The Guardian, Fox News, Yahoo! News, Denver Post, New York Post, Detroit News, many more | Feb. 25, 2014

Temple sociologist comments on decline of city's middle class
Philadelphia's middle class has declined steeply since 1970—from 59 percent to 42 percent by 2010—according to a new Pew report. “The penalty for those who don't complete high school is getting bigger and bigger,” said Temple sociologist David Elesh, who studies quality of life and economics in the region. Elesh said the findings were “not a big wow,” given that the city's once-formidable manufacturing base eroded steadily through the 1970s and beyond. “I have no doubt that what's going on in Philadelphia is more severe than the nation as a whole,” he said.

Philadelphia Inquirer | Feb. 26, 2014

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